Bill Targets Scalpers
At Township Festivals

A bill to prevent ticket scalping at the Jamboree in the Hills music festival left some state lawmakers singing the blues.

The Ohio House voted 52-45 last week to give townships the same right as cities and villages to regulate the resale of tickets for musical, cultural and athletic events.

Opponents of the provision briefly were able to kill Senate Bill 52, but last-minute maneuvers gave it the votes to move it to Gov. Bob Taft's desk for his signature.

SB 52, introduced by Sen. James Carnes, R-St. Clairsville, allows townships to pass resolutions regulating the resale of event tickets. Carnes offered the bill on behalf of Richland Township in Belmont County, home of the Jamboree in the Hills.

The Ohio House added a few minor amendments to the bill to help townships provide services, but state Rep. Jerry Krupinski, D-Stuebenville, offered an amendment on the House floor to remove the right to regulate ticket sales from the bill.

Krupinski said the measure was the outcome of "corporate greed." He said operators of the Jamboree in the Hills, a multi-day country music festival, give out 10,000 free tickets to the event when each ticket sells for $135.

Jamboree officials have complained that people were selling the free tickets and profiting from the promotion. Krupinski argued that the Jamboree's problem should not be rectified by establishing new laws for ticket resale.

Rep. Ron Hood, R-Canfield, joined Krupinski in opposing the regulation, saying it was an unneeded "intrusion into the free market." Krupinski's amendment to remove the provision from the bill passed 49-45.

Moments after passage of SB 52, supporters conferred with House leaders and called for another vote on the legislation. Rep. Larry Householder, R-Glenford, called for reconsideration of the Krupinski amendment.

Householder and seven other Republican members, who had originally voted for the amendment, switched their votes and another who did not vote the first time also voted against the amendment. It failed 39-54.

"It's a bad piece of legislation," Krupinski said. "It took all the power and muscle of the leaders of the House to remove it."

The Senate agreed to the House's version of the bill and forwarded it to Taft.